Avian Jet Pilots

We have three swallow species in numbers here all summer.

The Purple Martin, the Tree Swallow, and The Barn Swallow

If I were asked which Swallow I would want to be, I’d pick the Barn Swallow.

Barn Swallows are clearly the most aerobatic fliers of the three species. Like little jet pilots they are able to maneuver in ways one might consider impossible at times.

I captured this pair a couple of days ago. There were flying over our pond, dipping down to the surface to catch a beak-ful of water while on the fly. They repeatedly returned to perch at nearly the same place. I was lucky to catch the moment when they took off again, essentially dropping off the branch before grabbing the current and soaring away.

Barn swallows like to make their mud nests under the eves of a house, or barn (hence the name.) I suspect all that water collection wasn’t just due to thirst, but to construct their nests. There’s a pair that has made a new mud nest over their nest from last year, under the overhang of my office patio.